Beware, this is a BIG beer. Brimming with luscious roasted coffee and chocolate malt flavours which are balanced by a brisk bitterness and bold freshness from the hops.

If you’re feeling politically incorrect try it with your favourite cigar, or a dram of your best single malt whisky. Or, if your tooth is sweeter, why not jump in at the deep end with the most decadent dessert of all; half a bottle in a glass with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top (beer geeks like us know it as the Imperial Stout Float). Or simply enjoy it on its own as a decadent dessert or night cap - the perfect winter warmer!

If you don’t already know the history of Russian Imperial Stouts please check it out on the internet, it’s a good story. But remember, although based on that century-old classic style, this beer is a very modern interpretation, like all our beers!

500mL bottle, part of the LCBO Fall release. I had a sample from a bottle of this recently and enjoyed it - glad to see some more 8 Wired stuff in Ontario.

Poured into a snifter. As jet black as the bottle's label would suggest, with a quarter inch of espresso mocha head, which forms a thick circle and leaves some lacing streaks.

Nose is quite nice, but as pleasant as it is, it isn't the brew's strong suit. Mild smokiness, licorice, roasted malts, caramel, coffee.

Very, very tasty stout, with loads of smokiness and a lovely toasted character. Espresso, dark chocolate, faint dark fruit, maybe a bit of peat. Far smokier than I remember, but still outstanding. Finishes with a puckery dry hop kick that is positively salivating - just makes me want to take another sip, despite the high ABV. A top class stout.

Appearance: black, with mochachino head that fades fairly quickly to a thin film

Aroma: dark chocolate, burnt coffee beans, hint of campfire, cassis

Taste & Mouthfeel: like chocolate covered coffee nibs - intense and bitter, and pulling it off in a good way - not that puckering bitterness of bad espresso, it has a richness to it; slightly powdery texture of hot chocolate; alcohol well hidden, adding just a mild burn; over time the bitterness mellows and the dark rich notes of chocolate and coffee really shine; touch of spruce tips hint at hops

Overall: a powerful and well crafted stout - managing the bitterness of the roast well so the rich flavours can dominate, and the balance of hops s just right; not for the faint of heart

This beer pours a solid black, with very slight basal cola highlights, with one skinny finger of glistening, somewhat foamy tan head, which sinks away rather quickly, leaving some random specks of lace around the glass.

The carbonation is quite soft, and kind of lucid, the body a sturdy, bulging medium weight, and tacitly smooth, that swirling alcohol trying to poke holes in the whole affair. It finishes pretty sweet, with the chocolate and licorice notes still loud and proud, though well enough offset by the identity-challenged hops, and edginess of the straining likka.

Yes, this offering gives up a lot of heat, but it seems to be absorbed at damned near every point, letting attention more or less fall on the decent savoury chocolate, coffee, and anise essences. A strong, bristling, big-flavoured stout, recommended if that's your thing.

500ml bottle purchased from Warners at the Bay and shared with mulder1010 with my portion poured into a Tripel Karmeliet tulip style glass.

Pours a nice black colour with a nice beige/tan head of foam that settles to film after a little while and re-emerges after some agitation.

Smell is very muted, some coffee coming through but that is about it. Was expecting a lot more from a 10.5% ABV stout and this didn't deliver.

Taste is dominated by a real over-charred malt flavour, burnt and not roasted this really detracts from the minor other flavours that could be there.

Mouthfeel again is dominated by the over-roasted malt that makes this very tough to finish half of a 500ml bottle. Too much in this regard and lacking balance.

Overall a beer that has over-charring as its main characteristic that serves to drown out all other flavours. Too simplistic, too dull otherwise and too dominated by burnt characters. Something that failed to live up to anywhere near the hype.

Pours a dense black in the glass, topped with a finger of dark & angry looking mocha head. This retains with some rich bunching around the edges of the glass and a robust flare-up that leaves back a thick cascade of spotty lacing and a brown oily film. The aroma smells of chocolate, a touch of molasses, and a whole lot of ripe dark fruit. This is rounded out on the edges by some slightly astringent feeling roasted coffee character, while the ABV really pulls the sweetness out here in the nose and singes the nose hairs with a bit of heat and spice about every other sniff of this.

The taste has more bitterness to it, with a lot of underlying green citrus and crunchy coffee that spreads out across the palate in a roasty bloom. This is buffered by a thick blanket of chocolate and caramel sweetness, with harbors a good bit of dark fruitiness in the center of it as well. The finish is dry and bitter with a bit of warming roasty feel to it. The mouthfeel is full bodied, with a thick mellow chewiness to the carbonation but does still lay down a bit of an underlying sharpness on the tongue at times as well, helping bring out those citric hops. That beefy 10-11% ABV is a big part of this beer, giving this a bold sweetness that carries a warm spiciness the whole way through the profile yet never gets overly hot feeling. The overall strength of this just seems right-on, being enough for the heavy flavors here but not going overboard with it.

This was a real nice example of a RIS, with a full richness to the flavors and a heady alcohol presence that complimented it well. At $15 a bottle, I’m not sure how often I would go back to this but it’s definitely comparable and easier to find than some of the other highly ranked examples of the style out there.

I picked up a bottle of this a few months ago and just now poured it into a snifter. It's difficult to tell its age (though I found it sitting dustily on the shelf of a local bottle shop that's not always good at rotating product).

Appearance: Opaque with very little head. Blacker than it is brown. One of the darkest beers I've seen.

Smell: Not super fragrant, but hints of cocoa nibs and coffee.

Taste: Roasty, choclately up front with a surprisingly hoppy finish that reminds me of a black IPA. However, clearly a stout. It gets hoppier as I drink it, making it a rather unusual imperial stout and one that's rather enjoyable for its novelty.

Mouthfeel: Coats the tongue and is lighter in carbonation.

Overall: A unique imperial stout. Overall enjoyment was diminished a little because of unexpected hoppiness which, although I initially enjoyed, began to wear on the palate as I finished the beer. This is strange, as I consider myself a hop head. In general an interesting version of the style and one I'd like to try cellaring in the future. Worth picking up for sure.